Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1887-12-07
The m

o. The ] armer
and the agricnlturist, who manufacture
nothing, but who pay the increased price
which the tariff imposes upon every ag-
ric1ltural Implement, upon all he wears
and upon all he owns, except the increase
of his fiocks and herds and such things
as his ~husbandry produces from the soil,
Is invited to aid in maintaining the pres
ent situation. Mind, he is toldsthat high
duty on Imported wool is necessary for
the benefit of those who haye sheep u
shear in order that the price OF their
wool may be increased. They of course
are not reminded that the farmer who
has nj sheep is by this scheme obliged,
in his purchase of clothing and wooden
goods, to pay a tribute to his fellow
farmer, as well as to the manufacturer
and merchant; nor is any mention made
of the fact that the sheep owners them.
selves, and their households, must wear
clothing n use other articles manu-
factured from the wool they sell, at tariff
prices, and thus. as consumers, must re-
turn their share of this increased price
to the tradesman. l think
1t MAY BE Fairly Assumed
that a large proportion OF the sheep
owned by the farmers throughout the
country are found in small focks number
lug from twenty-five to fifty. The duty on
the grade of imported wool which these
sheep yield is 10 cents to each pound if
OF the value OF 80 cents or less, and IL
cents ii OF the value of more than 80
cents. Ii The liberal estimate of six
pounds be allowed for zach fleece. the
duty thereon would he sixty or seventy
cents, n this, may be taken as tn.
II fronSf E oAp a ,..n no ~ e., - 49,.
farmer by reason of this duty. Eighteen
dollars would thus represent the in
creased price of The wool from twenty
five sheep, and 1886. 90 that from the wool
of fifty sheep, and at present values this
addition would amount to about one.
third of its price. If upon its sale the
farmer receives this OF less tariff, profit,
the wool leaves his hands charged with
precisely that sum, which in all its
change will adhere to it until it reaches
the consumer. When manufactured into
cloth and other goods and material for
use its cost is not only increased to the
extent of the farmers tariff profit, but q
further sum has been added for the
benefit Of the manufacturer under the
operation Of other tariff laws. In the
meantime the day arrives when the
farmer finds 1t necessary to purchase
WOODEN goods and material to clothe him
self and family for the winter. When he
faces the tradesman for that purpose he
discovers that he is obliged not only to
in the way of increased prices
his tariff profit on the wool
sold, and which then perhaps lies before
him in manufactured form, but that he
must add a considerable sum thereto to
meet a further increase in the cost caused
by a tariff duty on the manufacture.
Thus, in the end, he is aroused to the
fact that he has paid upon a moderate
purchase as q result of the tariff scheme,
which, when he sold his wool, seemed SO
profitable an increase in price, more than
sufficient to sweep away all the tariff
profit he received upon the wool he pro-
duced and sold. When the number of
farmers engaged In wool raising is COM
pared with all the farmers in the coun-
try, and the small proportion they bear
to our population is considered; when it
is made apparent that, in the case of a
large part of those who own sheep the IS
Benefit of the Present Tariff
on wool is illusory, and above all when
1t must be conceded that the increase of
the cost of living caused by such Tariff,
becomes . Burden upon those with mod
crate means, and the poor, the employed
and unemployed, the sick and well, and
the young and old, and that it consti
tutes a tax which, with relentless grasp,
is fastened upon the clothing of every
man, oma and child in the land, rea-
sons ere suggested why the removal or
reduction of this duty should be included
in a revision of our tariff laws.
In speaking of the increased cost to the
pnrcn1f1a1. at mr. hama antifonfI,. aa ,n
from q duty laid upon imported
of the am description, the fact
is net overlooked that competition
among ourdomestic producers sometimes
has the effect of keeping the price of
their products below the highest limit al
by such duty. But it is notorious
that this
Competition Is Too Often ~strangled
by combination quite prevalent at this
time, and frequently called trusts, which
nave for their object the regulation OF
the supply and price of commodities
made and sold by members of the
combination, the people can hardly hope
for any consideration in the operation of
these selfish sehemers. II, however, in
the absence of such combination, a healthy
and free competition reduces the price of
any particular dutiable' article of some
production below the limit which it
might otherwise reach under our tariff
laws, and il with such reduced price its
manufacture continues to thrive, 1t Is en-
tirely evident hat one thing has leen dis
covered which should be carefully scrutin-
lied in our offert to reduce taxation.
The necessity of combination to Inaint. in
price of any commodity, to the tariff
point, furnishes proof that some one Is
to accept lower prices for such
commodity, and that such frees are re-
muneratiye, and lower prices produced
by competition prove the same thing.
Thus, where either of these conditions
exists, a case would seem to be presented
for an
Easy Reduction of Taxation.
The considerations which have been
presented touching u tariff laws are
Intended only to enforce an earnest
recommendation that the surplus rev
enuess OF the government be prevented by
the reduction of our custom duties, and
at the same time to emphasize a sugges-
ton that in accomplishing this purpose
we may discharge q double duty to our
people by granting to them a measure OF
relief from tariff taxation in quarters
where it is most needed, and from
sources where 1t can be most fairly and
justly accorded. Nor can the presenta-
ton made of such consideration be, with
any degree of fairness, regarded as eyf-
dence Of un~friendliness toward our man
ufacturing interests, or of any lack of
appreciation of their value and rapport
ance. These interests constitute a lead
ing and most substantial element Of
Our National Greatness,